Ardent Zorn
Ardent Zorn (アルデント ゾーン, Arudento Zoon), also known as the Wrath of Gods (神々の怒り, Kamigami no Ikari), is a member of the ancient demon race, Los Pecadores. Currently, he is the personification of Wrath, and from the Fifth Level of Hell, Furia. Considered a brute and prone to violence, Ardent desires very little except to bathe in chaos and destruction. Especially if that devastating is caused by himself. He's also the most physically imposing Pecador, who's strength can only be matched by its leader, Leo Grande. He does not work closely with anyone but it is known that he has parted his Stigma with Nueva Espada, Jackdaw Fendigaidd, who shares a similar affinity towards violence and destruction. He currently resides in the Bleach: War of Souls universe and serves as one of the main protagonists within this arc. Appearance Ardent is an absolute beast in terms of size and weight, appearing as a massive male with tanned skin and an extremely muscular frame. He is easily the tallest figure among Los Pecadores, Nueva Espada and the Damnato. In fact, the second tallest individual within the organization, Uzkudun Llastra, is only slightly over half his height. He weighs nearly a full ton but is composed of entirely solid muscle with a heavily toned and defined build. He is clearly defined as a powerhouse with a single glance. In terms of features, Ardent is a man with very tanned skin and bright red hair styled similar to a mowhawk while the back is tied into a long braid that reaches past his shoulders. The sides of his head are completely shaved down to the skin. He has a rectangular face with a strong and defined jaw with pronounced cheekbones, thick lips, a pronounced brow without eyebrows and red eyes. He has two notable scars running down over each eye, extending from the top of his forehead down to below his lips. His attire is very reminiscent of a punk rocker, sporting tight faded black pants with torn knees, tucked into a pair of black steel tipped boots with the metal on the outside over the toes. The pants are held up by a silver studded belt and red and black stripped suspenders hang from the waist line. Over his chest is a small tight shirt with the collar torn creating a v-shape down his chest and his abdomen is completely exposed from how short the shirt it. The shirt is white with a black anarchy simble seemingly spray painted on the front. It is completely sleeveless, showing off his massive arms that are covered by tattoos of black dragons wrapping around them. His right hand has a black fingerless glove with silver studs over his knuckles, while his left wrist is covered by a long piece of black chain. When he first appeared, he wore black leather vest and a pair of black gloves, but has since changed it to his current appearance. Personality As the embodiment of Wrath, Ardent is violent, short-tempered, destructive and revels in the chaos and devastating he causes. He's often described as a beast that cannot be tamed, and is primarily held in check by Leonel Grande. He's highly aggressive, lashing out immediately when confronted either physically or verbally, and respondes with extreme measures. Ardent has no qualms with killing his targets, regardless of their age or gender. Nor does he care if the opponent is weaker than he is or currently in a weakened condition. He describes his love of carnage as a rush, getting some sort of "high" when he inflicts his punishment on people, or brings about massive amounts of destruction. It is unknown why he manages to work with the rest of Los Pecadores, but it may be something genetic or a predisposition to working with another considering their limited numbers and history. But even so, he's often rude, hot-headed and suffers from bouts of aggression and violence due to the sin he represents. He resents Leonel in some capacity because of his status as the strongest Pecador, and does not care for any of the Nueva Espada or Damnato. If any of his allies were to stand in his way, he would completely obliterate them in the process without remorse. In terms of mannerisms, Ardent is highly disrespectful to those around him. He often uses slang and curse words when speaking, does not care how he presents himself, nor is he curteous or chivalrous in any way towards woman. He often makes lude remarks to Pecador, Roxanna, or any other attractive females he sees. He thrives on carnage and was greatly feared in his own level of Hell. While the level is known for constantly fighting and inciting wars, no other Togabito dared challenge him in combat. And if they did, Ardent would be sure to make an example of them by inflicting the most brutal forms of punishment imaginable. He reigned as the supreme being on that level and remained unchallenged. He's a highly physical individual, preferring to render his opponents and enjoys inflicting pain as much as possible. As previously stated, Ardent shows no remorse or empathy towards his opponents or allies, seeing them as merely hinderances. Leonel has said that the battlefields Ardent is present on are left in utter ruin with extreme loss of life, both from enemies and allies. Because of this, the Pecadores offer him a huge birth when battling, stating any who stand in his path are doing so at their own risk. History Coming Soon. Plot *What Once Was - Part 2 Equipment Claymore & Machete: '''Though he does not use it often, Ardent carries a massive claymore nearly matching his height with a double edged thick blade one foot wide. The handle is wrapped in a dark brown leather, ending with a circular silver pommel. The blade and handle are separated by a silver cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons ending in circular ornaments. Ardent typically carries his claymore resting on one shoulder to intimidate his opponents with its sheer size. Another weapon that Ardent has been seen with is a long machete with a black handle. This was only seen once when Violeta arrived in the throne room of Leonel Grande, and has not been seen since. Powers & Abilities '''Master Hand-to-hand Combatant: Ardent is an extremely violent individual who uses his massive size and strength to his adventage. While Leonel is a much more refined combatant, Ardent's fighting style can be best described as brawling based using whatever means necessary to gain his victory or inflict lethal damage. He's absolutely savage when battling, showcasing his brutal nature and uses his entire body as a weapon. He's very heavy handed, focusing on strength-based attacks such as using his fists, elbows and knees, but has also used his head to strike a target. Sometimes, he gets a running start to inflict more damage with his attacks, either charing through them with his body or leaping into the air to perform some form of aerial attack. Because of his phenomenal strength, he also excels in grappling combat, performing powerful slams by grabbing his opponents and driving them into the ground with devastating force. Also, with his sadistic nature, Ardent will place in a hold that applies pressure to a target's limbs and delivers excruciating pain. Most of his grappling techniques are meant to deliver tremendous damage and prefers attacks that rend an opponent or breaks their limbs. He will also continuously pummel his opponents even if they are grounded, throwing punches or driving a knee or elbow into their bodies. Even if the opponent is weakened, Ardent will grab their limbs and throw them through the air or slam them through structures. Ardent is a physical fighter excelling in close quarters, primarily focusing on strength and power moves to fight with. Perlabor Master (幻悪魔 (ペーラボー) Perabo; Latin for "Glide"; Japanese for "Phantom Demon") Despite his massive frame, Ardent is deceptively fast, able to instantly disappear in one location and appear in another with apparent ease. When fighting opponents, they often underestimate his speed and they rely on their own speed to their advantage. It comes at a complete shock when he is able to move so fast that he can almost immediately overtake his targets and evade nearly all of their attacks if he chooses to. Also, his increased speed offers him enhanced reflexes that he can use for defensive means. When engaging in physical combat, his speed allows him to counter any of his opponent's attacks, while simultaneously countering with his own. With Perlabor's silent nature, it can be quite frightening for the might Ardent to appear instantly and without sound directly in front of an opponent. On two occassions, Ardent was able to appear instantly in front of Captain Commander Nobuyuki, regardless of his size. Enhanced Insigniis (地獄聖人鎧 (インシグニス) Insigunisu; Latin for "Coat of Arms"; Japanese for "Hell Saint Armor") Insigniis refers to the natural resistance a Los Pecadores has to negating physical damage, which is a result of their enormous spiritual power creating a powerful second skin to defend against attacks. As with Leonel, Ardent's Insigniis is extremely powerful due to his massivel levels of spiritual power which boosts his already impressive durability to unimagineable levels. Since both Leonel and Ardent are physical fighters, they use this ability to their advantage by shielding their skin with dense spiritual energy and block attacks barehanded, even those that come from bladed weapons. His Insigniis is so powerful that he can catch a Shinigami sword with his hand and sustain no injury. In fact, when a blade slashes across his skin it appears as if the weapon were scraping against metal. Insigniis proves to be much more powerful than an Arrancar's Hierro, mainly due to the difference in spiritual power between an Arrancar and a Pecador. Also, Ardent's Insigniis seems to be able to absorb impact from magical spells, such as Kidō, much more efficiently than an Arrancar's Hierro. This allows Ardent the ability to stand up to virtually any form of physical attack without sustaining any visible signs of injury. Sensum (罪検出 (センサム) Sensamu; Latin for "Awareness"; Japanese for "Sin Sensing") As the embodiment of all sins, Los Pecadores possess an extrasensory ability to identify those sins as a form of tracking. This form of awareness lets them locate individuals, regardless if they are attempting to hide or using magical means to erase their tracks. Los Pecadores state that the reason this ability can overcome magical barriers or forms of illusions is because it "finds the sins within a person's heart", therefore allowing Los Pecadores the ability to find their precise location wherever they are. The stronger the sin is present, the easier it is to find. Its been noted that while Ardent is a powerful Pecador, his Sensum is weaker than the others because rage and wrath may not be present in individuals, and if it is it buried deep within the individual's soul. This is why Ardent tends to fight battle-hungry opponents, or ones that have some form of emotional instability where they allow their feelings to override their common sense. Noxa (地獄炎を殺す (ノックサ) Nokkusa; Latin for "Punishment"; Japanese for "Hell's Killing Flames") As creatures born from hell, each Pecador the ability to manipulate the fires that flow through every level. These flames burn orange and yellow, and their intensity varies with the amount of power used. What makes these flames unique is their ability to be molded and shaped into various objects, though typically they take on the form of a Devil's trident which a Pecador can use to skewer their opponents or delivered with explosive force. In fact, most incarnations of Noxa appear as spear-like weapons, either released from a Pecador's palms or thrown like a javelin. The flames first appear like a flicker and quickly expand to whatever shape a Pecador wishes. Noxa can even be wielded as a makeshift weapon, able to deflect attacks and strike down their targets. Ardent prefers to create huge weapons, such as massive spears or javelines the size of pillars and other throwing weapons, and delivers each one with devastating force that results from huge explosions. Ostium (魂炎通路 (オースチアム), Ousutiamu; Latin for "Mouth"; Japanese for "Soul Flame Passage") When traveling to and from Hell, a Pecador is able to access a temporary doorway known as an Ostium. To summon the doorway, a Pecador draws a straight line in the air with their finger, a thin trail of blue fire following its movement. Once its reached its maximum width, the line extends height wise to create an eye shaped opening lined in blue flames while the inside is entirely red. From that point, they are able to step through the flames to either appear in Hell or in the Human World. With a Pecador's level of power, they are able to create large openings where several individuals can travel through. Traveling through an Ostium is described as being quite painful as if an individual were stepping through actual fire as they passed between dimensions. Immense Strength: 'Ardent is known primarily for his monstrous levels of physical power, which makes him the strongest Pecador within the entire organization. In fact, his strength can only be matched by its leader, Leonel. Though both Pecadores can increase their strength levels due to their unique abilities. Without any additional means of acquiring more strength, Ardent is considered the strongest force in all of Hell. His strength is sufficient enough to kill most individuals in a single blow, often splitting their bodies in half from the force, splattering their blood against his body. When pinning an opponent to the ground, he can pound them down in a bloody pulp from repeated blows of his fists. This makes him a highly dangerous individual when engaging in combat, and with his short temper, just as dangerous being around. Because of his extreme levels of strength, he can overcome most enemies through simple brute force and grappling the mighty giant is near impossible. He often uses his strength to brutally mame is opponents, rending their bodies with his bare hands by ripping off their limbs, or swinging their bodies around by the foot or head before driving them into the ground. Ardent can heft massive weights over his shoulders, such as boulders or stone pillars, and use them as improvised weapons. By slamming his body against a surface, he produce destructive shockwaves that can cause entire structures to collapse, or slam his fists into the ground to produce a wave of force to knock back his opponents. Also, using his massive frame, he can leap into the air with his increases leg muscles and come crashing down on an opponent or an area to produce a similar explosion of force. There is very little that Ardent isn't able to smash his way through using nothing but his strength, including barriers and defenses made both conventionally and magically. *'Rage Augmentation: 'Because of his sin of Wrath, Ardent possesses the unique ability to increase his already massive strength to even more extremes. This is due to the inherent nature of his original sin. This ability can be summed up in a simple explanation: whenever Ardent gets angry, his strength increases. This is not very different from Yammy's ability to increase his own strength. But because of the difference in power between the two, Ardent increase is much more substantial and devastating when unleashed. Since, he's short tempered, Ardent experiences periodic increases to his strength at any time, only finally returning to its previous levels when he's no longer engaged in battle or has been rendered unconcious. Though the latter is a much more difficult feat than imagined. When using this ability, the levels of his strength can become nearly limitless, and makes him the most physically powerful individual in all of Hell. His strength at its highest level even exceeds Leonel's own, but the de facto leader is still considered the most powerful combatant due to his extreme levels in every other area. '''Immense Durability: '''With his powerful frame, Ardent possesses nearly indestructible skin and a much denser body that helps absorb impact from attacks much more effeciently then many other creatures in Hell. This durability is similar to Leonel's and has proven to withstand powerful attacks with so much as a scratch left on him. Blunt attacks prove almost entirely ineffective as his body can disperse the force from these attacks, and bladed weapons have been observed shattering against his skin. Coupled with his strength, Ardent is a walking juggernaut, an unstoppable force that can mow through any who stand in his way. Even when facing against captain level opponents, it would take a combined effort from several to finally land a single blow that could hurt him. And even so, Ardent is known for his ability to endure any form of pain and discomfort. This also transfers over in the ability to survive extreme temperatures, as well. He has been observed stepping through lava without so much as flinching from the heat, and remained completely unharmed. *'Explosive Blood: If by some chance, Ardent's skin were to be pierced and an attack were to draw blood, the opponent would find that Ardent's blood is laced with volatile energy that explodes after a few moments. While the blood inside him remains inert, once its been cast from his body, it begins to cause a reaction and charging it with explosive energy. When landing on a surface, such as the blood landing on the ground or simply being left behind on a weapon that cut through his skin, it will soon detonate from the explosive blood and deal tremendous damage proportionate to the amount of blood left behind. While this feat has yet to be observed, it is known that multiple wounds that draw blood will eventually turn Ardent into a living bomb, causing the blood within him to react in the same manner to before. If he were to go critical, with the energy swelling inside him to the point its about to burst, the resulting explosion would be absolutely devastating, completely erasing anything within the large blast radius. The shockwave it produces would be the equivalent of a multi-ton bomb exploding, causing a ring of force to blow away anything near by and travel across several miles. What would be left is a deep crater several 100 meters in diameter and a mushroom cloud rising in the sky that can be observed from miles away, as well. Immense Spiritual Pressure: As with all other Pecadores, Ardent possesses levels of spiritual pressure well beyond that of captain class opponents with the sheer volume of it almost unimagineable. As the embodiment of Wrath, his power is known to be quite violent and destructive when exerting it. It can cause weaker willed opponents to immediately faint in his presence and can destroy Menos-class Hollows simply by being in his vicinity. These hollow have been observed as breaking apart and turning to ash after prolonged exposure. Ardent does not seem to possess master control as Leonel and can be regularly seen as exerting his power in the form of a blazing red pyre that erupts all around him. Even when building this aura slowly, the flames first appear as a low burning flame and then grows to huge proportions when becoming infuriated. His spiritual pressure increases in the same manner as his strength, producing a stronger and more violent aura that can destroy the environment around him. Ardent is skilled enough to manipulate his aura as a weapon by strengthening the blows of his attacks, or in a different manner by strengthening his Insigniis to even greater levels. Of all the Pecadores, Ardent possesses the most destructive one, competing with Leonel's in terms of the energy exerted, but possesses less skill in controlling it with such fine detail as Leonel and Ivan. Vinclis Ira (混沌夢竜 (イーラ), Īra; Latin for "Wrath", Japanese for "Chaos Dreaming Dragon")